Japanese Education

Earlier this spring, I told you how surprised I was that high school is not compulsory in Japan, nor is it free. I'd known about the dreaded college exams, but there are high school exams as well. And in a strange switch from the norm in the US, public high schools are seen as better than private schools. Apparently, I am not alone in this surprise. Here is a snippet from an article by Philip Brasor at The Japan Times.

High school is not compulsory in Japan, and even public high schools require tuition fees. In Tokyo, students have to pay a little more than ¥10,000 a month to attend public high schools. That may not sound like much, but they also have to take a test to get into these schools. If they fail and want to continue their education then they have to attend a private high school, which are, needless to say, more expensive than public high schools — and easier to get into. Basically, all you have to do is pay.

It's an unspoken but generally held belief that private-school students are on the whole scholastically inferior to public-school students. Parents with enough money will send their kids to cram schools at an early age, thus ensuring that they can pass the test to get into a public high school (and, later, a national university), while kids from less affluent families are not able to afford cram schools and thus end up attending private schools, where they have to spend a lot of money in order to graduate. And with more parents losing their jobs due to the recession, more teens are not going on to high school simply because they cannot afford to.

You can read the whole article here.

Remember, ¥10,000 roughly US$100, so that's not a whole lot. And I know that American high schools have extracurricular fees, so they are not entirely "free".

Perhaps, this does help the higher achieving students. They are not dragged down by standards that must slow down a bit for students who, due to ability or attitude, will not meet higher standards. And students can choose among many high schools to try to get into, not just the one in their town or section of town. At least one of my students was planning on boarding while attending high school. It's like charter schools here -- different ones specialize in different areas or different academic levels.

Some are connected to a particular university, and have such high academic standards that their graduates don't have to take the entrance exams for that university. And some of those high schools have affiliated junior high schools, grade schools and kindergartens. A kindergarten entrance exam that will get you into a top university later in life -- no pressure there, huh?

And lest you think those that don't go to high school are being too short-changed, remember that Japan has a higher literacy rate than the US, despite having the most complicated writing system on the planet. Plus, they will have sat through 3 years of foreign language instruction (English). Since Japan has a 6-3-3 system, the end of junior high school is a 9th grade education in the US. So, their American counterparts have optionally likely had 1 year of a foreign language. Those who don't go to high school can start apprenticeships if that is what their career path requires.

Overall, I am still kind of amazed at this system. Given the importance that East Asian cultures, including Japan, give to education I was stunned that high school was not required. But the system seems to work, and it keeps the 3rd year students in junior high school focused. SAT's aren't 3 years in the blurry future -- they are now!

Cats

I could be a cat. I love seafood and I love naps.

Here are my role-models!

Orangie Boy.
















Tashi
(AKA Pish Posh, Tashball, Tashmonster)













Tama
(AKA Tamtam)

Lake flies!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all moms, but most especially, mine!

While the weather here is nice, no mom would want a nice cook-out by the Lake Winnebago on Mother's Day. Here is the reason: Lake flies. They hatch like clockwork around Mother's Day. They swarm and get all over everything for about a week, then they are gone.

They don't bite, sting, spread disease or eat crops. They just land on everything, stink and stain when squished and make make a buzzing noise. They come out of the lake, mate and die. A good storm will get rid of them. And the cats like them, so none stay around in the house for long!

The fish love the larvae, and for a while we thought the zebra mussels might have done the lake flies in. Zebra mussels are an invasive species here. But after two or three years of no lake flies, it was back to normal.


Here is a story about who lake flies came to Lake Winnebago. Apparently, lake flies thrived in a lake or two in Africa. Some professor at a university in Chicago thought, "I wonder if they would also thrive in Lake Winnebago." He brought them here and they did, indeed, thrive. If it's true, it's just another reason for the rivalry between Wisconsinites and folks from Illinois , especially those from Chicago.

So, instead of gardening, I can only plan what I'll plant when these nasty bugs are gone. Luckily for me, I mowed the lawn the day before the hatch!

Flying

I like flying. Not commercial flights -- although I don't mind them as much as most people. I like flying in small planes. Luckily for me, I have a good friend who owns a 2 seater plane. Last Sunday was nice, so we went flying.

Here is the inside of the plane.








We flew over southern Wisconsin, by the Dells, Lake Delavan and Devil's Lake.

The cool thing about this plane, is that if you see something that looks interesting, you just fly over there and get a closer look.

Here is a dam. In the middle, you can see the lock.














I think this area is very beautiful.

We also played with some thermals. These are columns of warm air. Since heat rises, so does warm air. So if you find one, you can just fly in tight circles around the thermal and gain altitude for free -- no need to adjust the throttle. You can see birds do this as well.

I have more pics -- go here to see them.

New kitty!

Hey, everyone, meet Tama!

As you know my baby, Moogie, passed away last year. She was 19. She was my first kitty. At the time, we got her, we had TD and Clark. We'd gotten Clark just a few days before Moogie, so they were buddies. TD thought she was a human, Clark acted like a dog. But Moogie knew it was best to be a cat.

I knew I'd have to get another kitty when I got back. I started looking at the Neenah Animal Shelter website. On the website, you can see the cats and dogs available for adoption. I was looking for a kitten.

In the petfood section at Wallyworld, there are pictures of kitties and goggies at the shelter wanting new homes. Rob saw a cute kitty named Greta . Long story short: Tama is Greta's new name. She was brought in to the shelter after being found outside. Since Greta isn't her real name, I decided to change it to Tama. Tama is a very popular name for female cats in Japan, and my friend in Australia has a kitty named Tama as well. She is about two years old, and had just had a litter of kittens before being brought to the shelter.

Her coloring is called "dilute tortie". She looks like a black and orange tortoiseshell that had been left in the sun to fade. And she has cowlick on her chin that looks like a goatee.

At first there was a lot of yowling and hissing when all the cats were allowed to meet in person. Now they can all be in the same room with only the occasional growl, hiss or yowl.

Tama is the smallest of our three kitties, but don't worry about her! I've seen her tackle Orangie, who weighs almost twice as much as she does, and chase him down the hall!

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

My father is a docent at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It's actually a mostly outdoor museum, with exhibits of plants and animals in the Sonora Desert. He had a training session, so Mom and I wandered around the Museum. Since it's spring, there were a lot of flowering plants.

Here is the website for the museum: www.desertmuseum.org. If you're ever in the Tucson area, be sure to see it!

They have demonstrations of some desert birds called Raptor Free Flight. Today we saw the Chihuahuan Raven, a Great Horned Owl, a Harris Hawk, and a Ferruginous Hawk.

Here are the bird pics. First the raven:

























Here's the owl.
















































The Harris hawk
























The Ferruginous Hawk

Back in the US!

I'm back in the US! I flew from Narita (Tokyo) to Dallas to Tucson. I got lucky -- only a short delay taking off at Narita, but no disruptions to my plans. Previously, I'd flown directly to Chicago, with no other stops. That's good if you want to buy any liquids at the duty free shops, or bring your own.

I had planned on taking the train to Utsunomiya, then a bus to Narita. But Mr. Yamagi very kindly insisted on driving me to Utsunomiya. En route, we stopped at this shrine, then had a nice hamburg steak lunch.

The horse chestnut (栃の木 - tochi no ki) is where the name Tochigi comes from. Many things in Utsunomiya are named Marronnier this or Marronnier that, since "marronnier" is French for horse chestnut. The bus from Utsunomiya to Narita is the Marronnier Bus. So, if you are headed toward Utsunomiya, anything with "marronnier" in the name is a good guess!

Here is my last meal in Japan -- a tempura and rice set. Yum!







Now I'm staying with my parents inTucson. It's nice to have so much free time to spend with them and I could get used to the retired life very easily!

I've been working on preparations to go back to the States. Here is my last adventure: The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Harajuku.

Most of these pics need no captions -- they speak for themselves!

The Saint himself showed up.




















They played "The Minstrel Boy" (or "The Moreen")



























Here are the Bretons. The theme this year was Celtishness in general, so Bretons, Scots, etc all showed up. Even the Irish setter and Irish wolfhound clubs came.





















Here were 2 actual Irishmen who gave me commentary during the parade.

One of their friends who marched in the parade.

Harajuku and Meijijingu

On Saturday I went to Tokyo for a business meeting (doesn't that sound posh?).

After the meeting, I went to Harajuku because I haven't been there before. Harajuku is known as a teenybopper's shopping district, which is why I hadn't been there before. But Meijijungu, which is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emperor and Empress is in Yoyogi park. Yoyogi park, like Ueno park, is a green oasis in surrounded by urban Tokyo. Tokyo University, or Todai, which is the nation's top university (imagine if you combined Harvard, Yale and Stanford) is nearby, so I imagine students find the park a good place to relax.

I'm guessing that the annual Tokyo St. Patrick's Day parade will come through here.


Here is a Wendy's in Harajuku. I haven't seen many Wendy's. When it comes to hamberger places usually I see McDonalds, Freshness Burger and Mos Burger.

Here is a Demiglace Bacon Cheeseburger set. Yum!

These plaques comemorating the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.are on a bridge.


































In case you are hungry, here are some vendors ready to feed you. The closest is takoyaki, which are balls made of octopus in batter. The joke, of course, is that there are 8 octopus balls per octopus. HT next is yakisoba, or stir-fried noodles. There were also okonomiyaki, which are savory pancakes with cabbage, shrimp, etc. Okonimiyaki is one of my favorite Japanese foods.

This is the first torii gate leading to the shrine.












Kimono never go out of style.











Here are some French wines that have been donated to the shrine.
















Here is the more traditional sake. Japanese gods like sake, which is OK!


Here is the final gate. I have finally found a Shinto shrine that has no stairs.



Here is taiko drum at the shrine.








This light looks like the sort that would fit just fine at my house! I like the arts and crafts/art deco/Japanese combo.

Here is the shrine itself. The proper way to pray at a Shinto shrine is very simple.
Toss a coin or coins in the box. Ring the bell once - pull the rope. Bow twice. Clap twice in prayer while thinking about your wish. Bow once.

People write their wishes and prayers on ema, or small wooden plaques, which are hung up by the shrine. I saw them written in many languages: English, German, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, etc.

Starting Final Countdown!

Well, I have less than a month left in Japan. I am both looking forward to coming home and already missing unique features of Japan.

Today, I started looking around my apartment for things that I could start sending home. I wondered how this room that started out with nothing but a futon and my suitcases could get so full of stuff! Then, I caught the next train for Utsunomiya and went shopping at Bell Mall. Go figure!

My tastes in food have changed a bit. 　　None of these pics are mine.
I've learned to like mayonnaise. It may be the ubiquitousness of it here, or it may be that Kewpie mayonnaise is more to my liking than Hellmann's. Yes, that is a Kewpie doll on the bottle. According to their website, Kewpie introduced mayonnaise to Japan in 1925, and

I've learned to like clams, or maybe I'm getting them fresher here and like them that way.

I haven't learned to like natto.





I love dango, and will have to learn to make them at home.



I have tried and like gin. Thanks, Brian!

I am looking forward to pizza (anything with corn on it is not pizza!), bacon at reasonable prices, olives, cereal snack and cheese. Just looking at this list tells me I must keep walking as much as I have been...and keep eating Japanese sized portions!

I'll like having the mobility that a car offers, but I'll miss the trains. There were only a few times that weather caused delays. And if I miss the train leaving Karasuyama, it's another hour until the next one. But, they are on time, and easy to ride. I get on, and leave the driving to JR. I don't have to know the route between here and there, I just need to know which train to get on. And no hassles with parking either! I can read, listen to music, sleep, whatever. Give me an internet connection (or a dead tree time table) and I can get myself almost anywhere here.

I'm definitely coming back to Japan.